Sunshine Explorers

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Sunshine Explorers

Journal of a family from the Sunshine Coast exploring Australia.

Left home March 2019.

💛 Andrew - Emily - Ollie - Rosie

☀ Explore | Adventure | Wellness | Nature

01/07/2020

In January (nearly 6 months ago!!) we visited the renowned Rottnest Island while we were based in Perth WA. What a ripper of a place!
As you can see, we rode bikes ... alot ... well mainly that's all we did!! 🤣🚴 We only spent the day there with a return ferry trip from Freemantle. If we had our time over, we would have stayed overnight on the island to have at least two days to experience such a beautiful place.
Highlights were

☉ Seeing the famous quokkas
☉ Ollie was a champion riding over 10km up & down hills all around the island
☉ Choosing to hire bikes rather than taking the hop on & off bus
☉ Swimming in the crystal clear water
☉ The kids loved the ferry ride!

30/04/2020

For his birthday a few weeks prior to arriving in Bright, we gave Andrew a homemade voucher entitling him to a day of mountain biking somewhere of his choice.

The Bright trails came highly recommended so upon arrival he hired his first e-mountain bike and had memorable day back in the saddle! 🚴

He was originally a bit sceptic of riding an e-bike with the fear of appearing 'too lazy' 🤣 but he was completely sold!! He still got a great work out, the uphills were enjoyable and got to do more runs. Means he was also buggered more quickly!!! 😉

Reckon Dad's birthday present was a winner!! 🙌

27/04/2020

How could I have possibly missed posting this little guy in our collection of Wilsons Promontory captures?? We saw our first wild wombats cruising around the campsite at dusk. They are such funny little barrel of creatures waddling round eating! We were all so excited when we finally met up with them! 🌿😍
.promontory

27/04/2020

Life is like a winding road and every road is different. Follow your path, strive for happiness and embrace every bend along the way. 🛤☉

27/04/2020

It was views on steroids as we drove through the Mount Hotham area. The air temperature dropped, the roads got windier and the expansive views were jaw dropping. This was yet another unique landscape of Australia, differing from any we had seen in the year before. It was a place we'd love to experience in the snow season and see it in a different light. ⛰

27/04/2020

Tucked into the wildnerness for the night in the Victorian high country a month ago. 🌳🍃 Can you see our camp in amongst the trees?
It's places like this after a long day on the road that you appreciate having a temporary home for the night surrounded by quiet nature and wide open skies.

27/04/2020

An afternoon spent at Sqeaky Bay in Wilsons Promontory was up there with one of our favourite afternoons. I mean, look at it!! 😍😍😍
We ran into new friends and while the kids played adventure games in between the boulders, the mums had an epic surf (yes!!! 🙌) and the dad's enjoyed this awesome beach. The water was crystal clear and the waves were clean and fun! 🏄
Picnic Bay, which was just over the headland, was a perfectly prestine beach too. We could have stayed here for days on end!

23/04/2020

Nearly getting blown off the top of Mount Oberon in Wilsons Promontory VIC. The backdrop was worth the climb and the blowy summit! ⛰
The tip of Rosie's head just made the photo! 😜

23/04/2020

We climbed to the highest point of Wilsons Promontory National Park, Mount Oberon. It was a long hike up a track which winded back and forth up the climb. Although the scenery was nice the track was a little unintetesting and many games had to be had with Ollie to keep him distracted!
Once at the top the view was worth the hike up. It was a very windy day and we felt the full force of it up this high. We could see our campground and the small white dot if our van!
The bays against the green of the national park was amazing. 🌊🌳
.promontory

23/04/2020

📍 WILSONS PROMONTORY NATIONAL PARK, VICTORIA
This National Park was perhaps another highlight of our trip. We had been recommended to visit here but didn't know much about and because of this we didn't hold high expectations for the destination. It really exceeded the expectations that we did have! It is an absolutely stunning location and it wouldbe the most southern point visited on our trip. 😍
We camped by beautiful Norman Beach in the only caravan camping option at Tidal River for three nights. It was a great camp set amongst the bush by the beach, amazing scenery and hikes on your doorstep, amenities including hot showers and all for a very reasonable price.
We surfed great clean waves, hiked, chilled on the beach and met new people. Our ultimate!!
We've disappointed ourselves with our photography motivation and skills in this spot. We unfortunately didn't capture nearly enough photos for what this place is worth. We'll just have to visit it again!! 😜☉

21/04/2020

📍 YOU YANGS, LARA, VICTORIA
We were so lucky to catch up with another travel family we met during our second month on the road up in North QLD, at their home in Lara, VIC.
Eay back then we traveled with them for about 4 weeks and spoke about dropping into their home on our way through Victoria. So it was quite surreal to actually be doing this 10 months later!
It was so lovely to catch up, reminisce, hike and mountain bike. Ollie had a ball riding through the tracks of the nearby You Yangs with his friend Hannah.
We certainly made some lifelong friends on our trip and we can't wait for when life gets back to normal and we can start planning some more trips away with like-minded mates!

20/04/2020

📍 BELLS BEACH, VICTORIA
Cowabunga dude!! 🤙🏄
We dropped into the renowned surf spot Bells Beach, we watched on as one surfer navigated the large swell and took in the views. Again, the weather wasn't our friend on this day so it was another snap & dash visit that we ticked off our list!

20/04/2020

📍 AIRE RIVER WEST, VICTORIA
We split our Great Ocean Road drive up with an overnight camp at Aire River in the Great Otway National Park. It was such a pretty spot but again it was dampened (literally) by the weather.
Upon arrival is was super wet, windy and cold. We set up camp and ran inside the van to play boardgames & cards, cook up a hot soup and snuggle up and watch a movie all together! There was quite a few campers around, as it was a weekend, and we felt so antisocial but we were being weather wusses!! 🤣
We'd heard there was an abundance of koalas in this region so when the weather cleared Rosie and I went on a walk to find some furry friends. We weren't disappointed... we saw at least 5 beautiful koalas sleeping in scattered gums. Rosie was so excited as they are one of her favourite animals. It was so special for her to see them in the wild, the first time on our trip.
We had a great camp right on the river by the jetty. We woke to a clear, crisp morning and we got to see the full beauty of where we had spent the night! This was a lovely national park camp and in great weather with no deadlines we would have definitely made a home of this spot for a few days or more.

20/04/2020

The eastern end of the Great Ocean Road and the sun came out for us! ☀️

20/04/2020

Taking in the views of the Great Ocean Road. This was perhaps the highlight, as the road along the coastline and through the rainforest was extraordinary and sightseeing from the car was the preferred method with the wet weather situation!
We ruled devices & books to be put away (excluding the camera) along the scenic drive and looking out the window to take in the scenery was the priority. 🚗🍃🌊

20/04/2020

These sum up our time spent exploring the Great Ocean Road! Blowy, soggy and trying to capture half decent memories ... with not alot of luck!! 😂 It was definitely bad hair day. 😕

20/04/2020

Hitting one of the most well-known natural attractions in Australia and don't our kids looked stoked? 😆
Swip ➡ for the more excited version ... after Mum instructed "look more excited!". 🤣🤣🤣 How many times have you said that to your kids when capturing a monumental moment? Too many to count!

20/04/2020

Little nature lovers grow into big nature lovers. 💛

20/04/2020

📍 GREAT OCEAN ROAD, VICTORIA
(Catch up post from March)
We hit the western end of the Great Ocean Road in the afternoon and we were bracing ourselves for the hecticness of hauling the van through a windy busy road and for tourists! The weather was cold and blowing a gale ... perhaps the worst weather we'd encountered the whole trip!
It was a glorious sightseeing day!! 🤣😆🌧🌬❄
Nonetheless we made the most of our time visiting and explored Loch Ard Gorge, The Razorback and The 12 Apostles.
It wasn't a case of leisurely taking our time to view these beautiful renowned places, instead we ran out of the car through wind and drizzle had a quick look, took our piccies and ran back to the car!! 🤣
It was worth the experience though and we can tick this must do of our list!

20/04/2020

Cruisin' Port Fairy. 🏡🌹🌸🌳

20/04/2020

Exploring this country when the path ahead was a little more certain. We never planned ahead much on our lap but we knew of our direction, our sense of freedom and our purpose.
Now, only a month later, the path ahead seems a little unclear, like we have no Google Maps, road signs or to guide us!! 🤣 We seem to have lost control of our future path a little, for now, but we at least feel like we've been in training over the last 12 months for this period ... living in isolation, family 24/7 and homeschooling! We've got this! 😕
Looking forward to a clear path ahead ... and to drop the kids off to school & the grandparents!!! 😅

20/04/2020

📍 PORT FAIRY, VICTORIA
I (Emily) had visited this cute little seaside town over 12 years ago and it has stuck in my memories since. I was adamant that we would visit this charming town on our trip!
Although we only had an overnight stay about a month ago!) to clean up and reset after bush camping in The Grampians, it delivered the goods again! We strolled, cycled and scootered around the town, indulged in a yummy pizza dinner out and explored Griffits Island.
It's a very pretty little town full of so much charm. It was a shame to not spend longer here, but the road was calling!

20/04/2020

"What you think,
You become .
What you feel,
You attract.
What you imagine
You create."
~ Buddha 💛

20/04/2020

So grateful for this time we got to experience and treasure with our kids. 💛🍃

20/04/2020

Can you see our furry little friend camouflaged in the bush? 🌳🍃

20/04/2020

The ants going marching one by one hoorah, hoorah.... 🐜🐜🐜

20/04/2020

The best seat in the house. 🌳

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In January (nearly 6 months ago!!) we visited the renowned Rottnest Island while we were based in Perth WA. What a ripper of a place! . As you can see, we rode bikes ... alot ... well mainly that's all we did!! 🤣🚴 We only spent the day there with a return ferry trip from Freemantle. If we had our time over, we would have stayed overnight on the island to have at least two days to experience such a beautiful place. . Highlights were ☉ Seeing the famous quokkas ☉ Ollie was a champion riding over 10km up & down hills all around the island ☉ Choosing to hire bikes rather than taking the hop on & off bus ☉ Swimming in the crystal clear water ☉ The kids loved the ferry ride! . . . . @perthvibes @perthisok @rottnestislandwa @westernaustralia @seenwesternaustralia #sunshineexplorers #explore #adventure #familytravel #rottnestisland #travelvideo #travelaustraliawithkids

Throw back to our time spent at El Questro in Western Australia back in September. This was a destination we were really looking forward to and it didn't disappoint! . We had five super busy days exploring gorges, swimming holes, 4WD tracks, river swims & sunset look outs. We accomplished many hikes in the heat and the kids were little champions! . We also made some great new friends here who we continued to travel with, so there were lots of other kids to entertain ours and lots of good fire place yarns under the stars. Thanks @these.wander.days , @gearingaround and @lappingoz_ . Thanks to Rory from @these.wander.days for the awesome drone footage of the boys fishing in the croc infested river in the boat! . #sunshineexplorers #explore #adventure #familytravel #travelaustraliawithkids #travelfamily #discover #elquestro #caravanningaustralia #caravanandcampingwithkids #australiabiglap #kidswhoexplore #hiking #elquestrogorge #emmagorge #zebedeesprings

Back in September we spent three days at Lake Argyle, which we loved! Who doesn't love infinity pools, cool running tracks and exploring lakes by boat!? This video captures our day exploring the vast Lake Argyle on a hired pontoon BBQ boat. It was a fun family day! ☉

It's been a while since we got stuck into some video editing! Since leaving Darwin we've been having too much fun. There's been so much to explore, so many people to meet and places to go! 😂 Both of us have had quite a bit of work on as well, so travel life has been a bit of juggle. . . Nevertheless we've got back into editing mode and here is our first Western Australia clip!! 🙌 We had such a fun day in Kununara, bush bashing in the Ford Ranger, swimming in a remote crystal clear waterhole at Spring Creek, and driving the renowned Ivanhoe Crossing. . . Click 📽 to view the full version on IGTV. Enjoy!! ☀ . . #sunshineexplorers #explore #adventure #familytravel #adventurefamily #adventurevideo #ivanhoecrossing #springcreek #kununara #thekimberleys #visitthekimberleys #westernaustralia #travellingaustraliawithkids #caravanningwithkids #discover #4wd #fordranger #ranger @ford @ford.ranger.club.australia

After witnessing the orange sun rise up out of the ocean from our van on our first morning at Pender Bay, I knew I had to hit the beach in time for this magical nature show for a yoga flow. . The next morning it was so nice to get up in the dark, wander down to the beach, see hermit crabs doing their thing, red cliffs behind me and the calm ocean ahead. . It ended up being an overcast morning in Pender Bay and unfortunately the orange sun didn't pop from the ocean, but the clouds gave me a show and the sun rays finally did appear by the end of my practice. . Namaste ☉

Yoga has been a big part of my (Emily) life for over 20 years. I taught the practice at home on the Sunshine Coast but more as a side gig and passion rather than a career. I considered spreading the love and teaching throughout this trip but to be honest just being able to get time for myself for a session is so precious! Perhaps this will change and I will spread my wings and share my passion as we wander this country ... But for now it's through a social post! 😂 . . I love getting the kids involved and most of the time they roll out their mat without hesitation... last a few minutes ... then start climbing on me...then demand breakfast! In the early days of dating, Andrew used to practice with me, perhaps just to impress me 🤣 but it's been a while so we'll have to aim to get him back on the mat too...stay tuned! 🌞💛🙏 . . #sunshineexplorers #yoga #yogawithaview #wellness #wellnesstravel #travelaustralia #seeaustralia @kimberleylandwaterfront #westernaustralia #passion #liveyourpassion #travel

Mum's away so we go fishing! 🐟 🦀😀

Our new video of Devils Marbles, NT!! ☀ . We didn't quite know what to expect when we arrived at Karlu Karlu (Devils Marbles). Instantly the scene was breathtaking and we knew we had found ourselves in a special place. . We camped overnight in the National Park's designated camping area, which was in amongst the marbles. We arrived late in the afternoon after our first flat tyre encounter en route, and we were greeted with a stunning sunset complete with a full moon. . We walked around the paths of the marbles in the morning and discovered up close how magnificent the rock formations were. You could sense that it was a sacred place, a place of spirituality for our indigenous people. . . . . #sunshineexplorers #explore #adventure #familytravel #australiabiglap #austoutbacknt @austoutbacknt @visitcentralaus @australia #northernterritory #nt #devilsmarbles #karlukarlu ##seeaustralia #ntaustralia #travelaustraliawithkids #travellingaustralia #caravanningaustralia #caravanningwithkids #nature #discover

Cruising with saltwater crocs this afternoon at Coroboree Billabong NT. Up close and personal with this 2m one. 🐊 . . @wildlandsnt . . #sunshineexplorers #explore #adventure #familytravel #travelaustraliawithkids #travelaustralia #crocs #crocodile #saltie #corroboreebillabong #nt #northernterritory #australiabiglap #austoutbacknt #ntaustralia @tourismtopend

Our first true river crossing in our Ford Ranger, luckily without towing the caravan on this occasion! Just had to dodge the crocodiles ... after we crossed back over on our return trip to Tjaynera Falls, there was an update sign that there had been a croc sighting here that day. 😲🐊 . . #sunshineexplorers #explore #adventure #familytravel #ford #fordranger @ford #rivercrossing #4wd #travellingaustralia #bewareofcrocs #litchfieldnationalpark #ntaustralia #nt #seeaustralia

This sums up our day today at Lawn Hill National Park. This stunning waterhole at Indarri Falls is located a 1.5Km SUP from our camp site. Turquoise waters, varied fish, lilypads and...yup crocodiles!! 🐊 Happy to say they're only freshwater crocs and they're supposedly not fused with humans!! 😮 Ollie enjoyed paddling Rosie around in the waterhole and past the falls. We enjoyed this special spot with our new found travel buddies! ☉ . @lou12_ @outbackqueensland @queensland @seeaustralia @travellingaustraliawithkids @caravanningqueensland . #sunshineexplorers #explore #adventure #familytravel #outbackqueensland #lawnhillnationalpark #sup #standuppaddle #travellingaustraliawithkids #travelaustralia #biglapaustralia #drone #lawnhillgorge

Exploring Yeppoon

Here is a little snippet of a couple of early mornings spent on Yeppoon Beach. Unfortunately Andrew doesn't feature in this video but he can claim the clever camera man prize! Our van site was just up behind the dunes of this beach and we woke up to low tide every morning and the beach was filled with little crab tracks everywhere. It was the perfect location for some early morning beach yoga under the sun, and my lil Ollie enjoyed the walk down, rolling out his mat and bashing out a few asanas! He lasted longer this particular morning ... the drone hovering about may have had something to do with it!! Rosie joined us at the end and when yoga on the mat got a little to serious for the kids, we busted out a beach boogie, ran to the water and enjoyed a swim, before a day of exploring began!

Our first few days on the road adjusting to van life. Departing our home town (after months of preparation), selecting our route up the QLD coast, long car trips, setting up and packing up camp, it's all part of the journey.... and this is just the beginning. ☉

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01/07/2020

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